By Julian Goldsmith, 21 July 2008 13:07
NEWS
CIOs are split on the controversial issue of adopting more open source software in corporate IT.
In the latest silicon.com CIO Jury poll, participants were asked whether they planned to increase the amount of open source software they use within the next 12 months.
This came on the back of a recent survey in which the UK ranked fifth in terms of uptake of open source code.
The 12-strong CIO Jury was split down the middle, indicating the UK take up of open source is actually higher than the 15 per cent the survey suggests.
One of the main concerns was the lack of support for and familiarity of the software.
The London Clinic IT director Mike Roberts, one of the IT leaders who will not be investing in open source software, said: "The main issue is around 'contracted support'. Finding organisations that will offer a reasonable SLA is not very easy.
"Secondly, with so much opportunity for 'customisation', finding users familiar with the applications makes recruitment very difficult."
However, for those that were planning to extend their open source systems, the issue of cost was the real deal-maker.
Andrew Jackson, head of IT at B2B media group Huveaux, said: "We will be increasing the usage of open source in our organisation. Firstly, we have a feature-rich Content Management System that we're using on an increasing number of our web sites and this success is encouraging us to look for other open source solutions. Secondly, the high licensing and training costs for Microsoft Office will push us to evaluate alternative options."
Another fan of open source, Nick Masterson-Jones, IT director at financial services company Voca pointed out the huge legacy of innovation that has come about through the open source approach.
He said: "We are keen to exploit some of the opportunities that open source brings - not just for the obvious cost advantage but also to benefit from some of the innovative thinking - such as with Service Component Architecture - that we see in some of the current projects."
Today's CIO Jury was:
- Richard Storey, head of IT, Guys & St Thomas' Hospital
- Kevin Fitzpatrick, northern European CIO, Sodexho
- Steve Gediking, head of IT and facilities, Independent Police Complaints Commission
- Alastair Behenna, CIO, Harvey Nash
- Graham Yellowley, director of technology, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International
- Mark Dearnley, CIO, C&W
- Richard Steele, CIO, London Borough of Newham
- Christopher Linfoot, IT director, LDV Group
- Nick Masterson-Jones, IT director, Voca
- Mike Roberts, IT director, The London Clinic
- Mike Buck, architecture manager, Yorkshire Water
- Andrew Jackson, head of IT, Huveaux
If you are a CIO, IT director or equivalent at a large or small company in the private or public sector and want to be part of silicon.com's CIO Jury pool, or you know an IT chief who should be, then drop us a line at editorial@silicon.com
Comments
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1. Dom
The problem isn't about lack of SLA or lack of support or any other weird reason.
The problem is about the "risk averse" British attitude. When you live permanently thinking that something wrong will happen or might happen, you will find all sort of excuses to avoid making a move.
Think about it, why is the UK also lagging behind France when comes to broadband speed. Most French consumer have been able to benefit of 20 Meg + ADSL, TV video streaming over IP for at least a year.
Yet the UK is only just catching up....
Why? why? especially when all the countries in Europe started using the Internet at the same time.
So how the UK is lagging behind?
Risk averse attitude, belief that you will
encounter problems....
2. Simon
Dom is mostly right, but I'll add that the SLA thing is a red herring.
Ever read the EULA for a Microsoft product ?
Then there's the attitude of commercial vendors - typically "this is what WE decided you want, now stop whining and enjoy working how WE decided you should be doing it".
OK, so Open Source projects also do what the developers decided it should do. But IME they are generally more open to suggestions about what the project should do in the future, and if you REALLY want something changing then you can (if you want it badly enough to pay for it) just get someone else to change it for you. Not happy with a feature in Windows, just try asking Microsoft for the source so you can get someone to change it and see how far you get !
But what REALLY REALLY sets the UK aside, and what Dom alludes to but doesn't mention, is that in our risk averse mode of working ... we always want someone we can pass the blame onto. Buy commercial software with an SLA that's not worth the paper it's written on - you can blame the vendor if something goes wrong. Use Open Source - risk having the buck stop with you.
THAT is the real reason, all the rest of the excuses are just a diversion tactic.